Banks are cutting savings rates without telling customers

A survey by Which? Magazine has found that 8 out of the 12 banks and building societies do not personally inform their clients when they cut the interest rate on their savings accounts. Instead they rely on newspaper adverts to inform their clients of the smaller rate cuts, or in some cases waiting until customers visit their branch to tell them!

So would your bank tell you if they cut your savings rate?

 

The table below summarises the results from the Which? survey:

Interest rate changes
Provider	E-mail	Letter	Branch	Newspaper	Website
Bank of Scotlanda	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Barclaysa	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cheltenham & Gloucesterb	No	Yes	No	No	No
Co-operative Banka	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
First Directb	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Halifaxa	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
HSBCa	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
ING Directb	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Lloyds TSBa	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nationwidea	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
NatWest/RBSa	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Santandera	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

Table notes

1. 1. Don't guarantee to give personal notices
2. 2. Guarantee to personally notify customers of all rate changes

The table shows which banks guarantee to personally inform you if they cut your savings rate by less than 0.25% and no more than 0.5% in a year. Most banks use impersonal methods to communicate smaller rate changes as shown in the right side of the table. Bank of Scotland, Co-op, Halifax and HSBC say they may or may not inform you personally

What this survey does highlight is the importance of reviewing your finances from time-to-time in order to make sure you are getting the most from your money.

The full Which? survey can be found here.